Raw material

A raw material is something that is acted upon or used by organisms, or by human labour or industry, for use as a building material to create some product or structure. Often the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is still in an unprocessed or minimally processed state. Iron ore, logs, and crude oil, would be examples. A non-human related raw material would include twigs and found objects as used by birds to make nests.

In Marxist economics and some industries, the term is used in a distinct sense: raw material is a 'subject of labor', something that will be worked on by labor that has already undergone some alteration by labour. In other words it does not apply to materials in their entirely unprocessed state. Some examples are dimensional lumber, glass and steel.

See also

• Commodity
• Material
• Building Material
• Mineral

References

• Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Part III, Chap. 7